Written by Katsuhisa Kigitsu
Illustrated by Katsuhisa Kigitsu
Published by Seven Seas Entertainment
Suitable for ages 16+
It’s a tale as old as time… well, 1818 anyway. When Mary Shelley first publishedFrankenstein, he was a terror unlike any other. He conducted mysterious experiments, leading to a monstrous creature that made us question the very nature of humanity. What if Frankenstein was alive today in a more modern setting? What horrors would he make with today’s tools and science? Would his creatures stumble through the dark like the original, or would they create even further nightmares of their own?
In the manga Franken Fran, Doctor Madaraki Naomitsu is a modern day Frankenstein. While he’s world-renowned for his vast medical knowledge and experimental practices, he’s secretly gone missing. So when visitors find their way to his doorstep seeking help, they are surprised to find his reanimated daughter Fran instead. Fran is very much a present-day Frankenstein’s monster, but with a distinctly kind soul. Every surgery she undertakes is done with the patient’s best interests at heart. However, her solutions are not always exactly what the patient expects.
Frank Fran is a procedural manga. Every chapter features a different story that is tied together only by the recurring characters like Fran, her sister (who enters the series late in Volume Two), the missing Doctor Madaraki, and Fran’s many creations. There are a few chapters that are directly linked like “Division” and “After the Division,” but for the most part each adventure is its own contained story. The end of each volume also features a few additional shorter form stories that are usually unrelated to Franken Fran. No telling what the future volumes will hold, but as it stands they are fun little terrifying vignettes.
Fran’s medical procedures are unnerving at best, and downright nauseating at worst. One story arc features a girl who suffers a deadly accident. Her body is mangled beyond repair, but like an ominous guardian angel, Fran appears and promises to heal her. It is only after the young girl awakes from an arduous surgery that she realizes her head has been attached to the body of a giant caterpillar. Fran promises that the girl will return to normal and that it will only take time. With no other options, the young woman spends day after day in her new form, eventually forming a chrysalis. After a time, she emerges with a brand new human body. Touting her everlasting thanks to Fran, she returns to her normal life. As Fran wonders how the girl is doing, we then find out that things are not quite as they seem. When the reborn young lady attempts to have sex with her boyfriend, she mutates into a terrifying beast and eats him alive.
Gore is a huge part of Franken Fran. Every story is grotesque in some way or another, even counting the small add-on tales at the end of each volume. If you’re a Junji Ito level gore fan, Franken Fran will be right up your alley. Sometimes the manga feels like it’s using gore simply for the sake of gore. However, you realize quickly that Fran is unphased by blood and guts, so this is just the norm for her.
Frankenstein and his monster presented a horrifying tale of reanimated flesh in the early 1800’s. While it’s impossible to say that Franken Fran will reach the same level of infamy, it is a tantalizing story for fans of Doctor Frankenstein and his monster. The chapters of Franken Fran feel somewhat disjointed at first, but if you can get used to its pattern, the stories it tells are as entertaining as they are horrifying. If you have a weak stomach, Franken Fran will shock you with its bloody carnage. But for those undeterred, Fran will allow you a peek into her world where, “All lives must be saved, no matter the cost!”
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